During my adolescent years, up to 7th grade, I loved writing and reading. There was an abundance of information and entertainment found in each page that I turned, you could look at a book written on a revolution and then read someone else’s interpretation and it would be astounding to see the two different perspectives, to compare and contrast the thoughts of two individuals. This to me was amazing, for once I could start to formulate a view of history or concepts and let my own thoughts adapt to the new conglomeration of information that was at my fingertips, my mind could open up to new depths that were unexplored. As I could read, I could then share my own thoughts by writing them down. Writing to me was a form of record keeping and a way of expressing oneself. Writing, even when …show more content…
“English teachers usually ask about reading assignments- questions designed to bring out the points that I had decided they should know.”, this is what started to turn me away from reading and writing. By the 8th grade I had drastically reduced the amount of reading and writing I did to a minimum of what was assigned. Personal expression and the freedom to learn what I was interested in became limited. My love, the passion, it dimmed in comparison to seeing the moon out in the morning when the sun is coming up, hardly there, but still noticed. Throughout 8th grade and up, I began to develop a pattern in my reading and writing that was formulated by all my former teachers. All teachers I had met up to that point shared the same outlook and thus created my pattern: read this book and write from these selected topics. My thoughts became enshrouded with “WRITING IS PUNISHMENT” and as from Brave New World I started to “grow up with what the psychologist use to call an ‘instinctive’ hatred of books…” thankfully his hatred did not completely consume
Milgram, Stanley. “The Perils of Obedience.” Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. Eds. Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen. Boston: Longman, 2011. 692-704.
Writing is a form of communication that has changed over the years, whether that is the way it is used or the meaning it has for some people. In the generation that I grew up in, writing has been around in many different ways, such as texting or instant messaging friends. I remember using Facebook at an early age and communicating with my friends and family through a different form of writing. Compared to my elders, the way they were taught and the way they used their writing has changed immensely. Since I grew up in a newer generation than them, my writing experience has been partially different in a good way. My literacy narrative will reflect that difference.
In some of my classes, those subjects were occasionally used as a punishment. For example, a teacher would say, “if you don’t stop talking you will have more writing for homework”, or “since no one is listening, maybe we should stay inside and read instead of going out for recess”. These phrases subconsciously delivered the message that reading and writing is something you should not want to do or should not look forward to. In addition, reading and writing were referred to as work instead of a fun activity. Johnston (2004) said, “telling children they can have free choice time, but first we have to finish our reading, positions reading poorly simply by using the words “have to.” (p.9)”. This statement shows how reading is presented as something required and must be done before getting to the fun stuff. This exactly describes what happened in many of my grade school
Literature has long been an important part of human life. We express our feelings with ink and paper; we spill out our souls on dried wood pulp. Writing has been form of release and enjoyment since the beginning of written language. You can tell a story, make yourself a hero. You can live out all your fantasies. You can explore all of your thoughts, feelings, and emotions, and share them with the outside world. But just because you can write, don't think you are uninhibited!
Throughout my childhood, I had a very strong dislike for writing and reading. I found it boring and unexciting. As I progressed through elementary school, each writing assignment always came back with a mediocre to poor grade and to be honest, I didn’t really care because I disliked writing so much, so it meant nothing to me. Even throughout middle school, I didn’t care. Because all grades in elementary and middle school didn’t count towards anything, so I just didn’t put in the effort. I got bored so easily when completing a writing prompt for the state standardized testing exam called CSAP, later known as TCAP, then progressing to become PARCC. Writing just never appealed to me.
Each year as I grow old, I tend to discover and learn new things about myself as a person as well as a reader, writer and a student as a whole. My educational journey so far has been pretty interesting and full of surprises. Back in Bangladesh where I studied until high school, my interest for learning, reading or writing was so very different compared to how it has become over the years. I could relate those learning days to Richard Rodriquez’s essay “The lonely Good Company of Books”. In the essay the author says, “Friends? Reading was, at best, only a chore.”(Rodriguez, page 294). During those days I sure did feel like reading was a chore for me and how I was unable to focus and I could never understand what all those jumbled up words ever meant. It was quite a struggle for me in class when the teachers used to assign us reading homework. I felt like reading a book was more difficult or painful than trying to move a mountain. Just like how moving a mountain is impossible, trying to find an interest in reading was
Beginning in grade school students are taught a basic curriculum for English, some of the basics being: five sentences equaling a paragraph and five paragraphs equaling a essay. The beginning of the English learning stage is a time to get engaged in reading and writing. Honestly, most children when they are younger start loving to read and write but do they stay that way throughout middle school, high school, or even college? No, nine out of ten times kids who started out loving to read and write end up dreading it. But why? Every students has their own personal reason. Some may have never fully understood how to read or write and was to embarrassed to speak up others may have disorders such as dyslexia which makes reading and writing difficult. In my case I had a passion for reading and writing when I was younger. As I grew up I did not like the material that had to be read or the papers that was required to be written; but since I knew the work had to be done accurately in order for me to pass the class I learned to tolerate the subject.
Prose also wants to inspire schools to get students to read better novels. She places the blame on adults who make best-books lists, and who are to lazy to teach complicated books to their students. Prose writes, “We hear that more books are being bought and sold than ever before, yet no one, as far as I know, is arguing that we are producing and becoming a nation of avid readers of serious literature” (Paragraph 4). This shows that there is a problem in American classrooms, and measures must be taken in order to correct this, or reading might vanish in the future. Prose also states that, “One can see why this memoir might appeal to the lazy or uninspired teacher, who can conduct the class as if the students were the studio audience for Angelou’s guest appearance on Oprah” (paragraph 12). Prose blames the teachers for the mediocre novels being read in schools. She implies that if the teachers put more time and effort into their teaching, then better books could be taught in class. Prose also placed blame on the books for influencing the way teens write. Prose asks, “Where do students learn to write, inaccurate similes?” (paragraph 13). Since most students learn to write based off of other people’s works, the books that are read in schools should be advanced enough to create better writers out of the
Writing and Reading across the Curriculum. Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen, Boston: Pearson 2011. 274-279
The idea of literature being an important aspect of life has always been greatly prevalent in my upbringing. This notion that I supported was spurred on at the cause of my obstinate parents insisting upon my reading of two books a week to benefit my vocabulary and to develop the articulate thought process of a skilled reader. As a young child, my biggest influences were my parents’ passionate and persuasive ideas regarding the correlation between
I really did not like books they made us read in school. The books were not interesting. They were very boring. I just did not read them. Instead, I got somebody else to do the work for me when the books were assigned. For example, when they
During adolescence, I began reading and writing through a fundamental learning program called, "Hooked on Phonics." This program consisted of long hours spent reading short novels and writing elementary phrases which were commonly taught in the second and third grade. With the motto, "Improve your child's reading and writing skills in just four weeks!" I was bound to become the next Mark Twain. The method of this course specialized in the improvements of word acquisition rates as well as reading speed; however, it lacked in the area of teaching comprehension. At a young age, I was instilled with the dire need to be highly educated and although I was unable to experience a fun and adventurous childhood like many other children, I am grateful for being raised with a greater knowledge and wisdom than that ingrained in many.
Often I sit at the computer, or with a pen and paper, and I think about what I should write. I reflect on my experiences with life, or with my feelings and emotions. If the subject that I write about is coming from my heart, I could write forever, opposed to something that I do not have interest in like the mating habits of fireflies. I don’t care about how, when, and much less why they procreate. I would always dread having to write a paper for my English class, and it was not until I discovered my own love for poetry that I began to enjoy writing. It was my junior English teacher in San Diego, Howard Estes. He allowed me to open my mind to not only the academic perspective of literature, but also to my own personal connection to this confusing written language. This newfound passion gave me a sort of sixth sense. When I look at something, I not only think about what it means to me, but what it means to the world on a larger scale as opposed to taking everything at face value. Through my own writings, and the writings of others, I have been shaped as a unique individual.
When I was younger, I didn’t like reading much at all. I always questioned my teachers what was the purpose of reading; I never got an answer from either teacher until I was in the seventh grade. Starting junior high school was different from elementary. In seventh grade, we were in our reading class for two hours a day. I asked the teachers why didn’t we have the privilege to stay in our other classes for two hours; I never received an answer from my teachers.
There are many different types of events that shape who we are as writers and how we view literacy. Reading and writing is viewed as a chore among a number of people because of bad experiences they had when they were first starting to read and write. In my experience reading and writing has always been something to rejoice, not renounce, and that is because I have had positive memories about them.